User
reqUirements
with Lego
Lorenzo Cantoni, Marco Faré,
Elisabetta Frick
Università della Svizzera italiana
(University of Lugano, Switzerland)
Faculty of Communication Sciences
webatelier.net & NewMinE Lab
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User
reqUirements
with Lego
Lorenzo Cantoni, Marco Faré, Elisabetta Frick
Università della Svizzera italiana (University of Lugano, Switzerland)
Faculty of Communication Sciences webatelier.net & NewMinE Lab
4 Legal information
This work outlines the basic principles of URL (User Require- ments with Lego), an application of Lego Serious Play (as stated in the O pen-source /
You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work to Remix – to adapt the work Under the following conditions: Attribution – You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Share Alike – If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one.
LiCense
trADemArKs
With the understanding that: Waiver – Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder. Public Domain – Where the work or any of its elements is in the public domain under applicable law, that status is in no way affected by the license. Other Rights – In no way are any of the following rights affected by the license:
- Your fair dealing or fair use rights, or other applicable copyright exceptions and limitations;
- The author’s moral rights;
- Rights other persons may have either in the work itself or in how the work is used, such as publicity or privacy rights. Notice – For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work.
Lego and Serious Play are trademark by Lego company. Lego TM will be indicated simply as Lego ; Serious PlayTM will be indicated simply as Serious Play ; Lego TMSerious PlayTM will be indicated as Lego Serious Play or LSP.
URL - User Requirements with Lego
- Legal information
- License
- Trademarks
- Table of contents
- Introduction
- Framing URL
- Lego Serious Play
- Online Communication Model
- URL: User Requirements with Lego
- What is URL
- Advantages of URL
- Limits of URL
- History of URL
- URL: how to
- Organizing an URL workshop
- People
- Space and time
- Lego bricks
- Other materials
- URL workshop: step by step
- URL workshop: report
- Organizing an URL workshop
- Annexes
- Checklist - Before the workshop
- The workshop step by step
- Contacts
URL - User Requirements with Lego 7
This guide explains URL: User Requirements with Lego, a methodology to elicit user requirements for online communication applications. This guide is addressed to online communication consultants, such as web agencies or freelancers, as well as to communication departments in large organizations. The guide explains what is URL and how to use it. It gives hints on why use URL with clients and helps in persuading them. URL is an application of Lego Serious Play (LSP), supports the require- ment analysis and contributes in building the team. URL was developed at the laboratories NewMinE and webatelier.net, Faculty of Communication Sciences, Università della Svizzera italiana (University of Lugano, Switzerland) with the collaboration of trivioqua- drivio and Kharta, and was formerly known as Real Time Web (RTW). In this document an overview of theories and practices behind URL is given, namely LSP and the Online Communication Model (OCM). URL is then presented in details, in particular what it is, what are the advantages in using it and its limitations. In the last chapter the methodology is explained, starting from the orga- nization of an URL workshop, continuing with the phases of the work- shop and including the report. This document is based on the manual (Open-source/
introDUCtion
/*FrA-
ming
UrL*/
10 Framing URL
In a LSP session, each activity is based on three steps: a. Creating a model b. Attributing a metaphorical meaning to it c. Sharing that meaning with the rest of the group as a story
URL - User Requirements with Lego 11
URL: User Requirements with Lego is based on the Online Communi- cation Model (OCM). OCM, formerly known as Website Communi- cation Model (WCM) or coffee-shop approach, was developed by rese- archers of webatelier.net. OCM describes the communicative elements of an online communication application, such as a website. The Online Communication Model understands a web application as the interaction of people (managers / administrators and users) through a web application made of content and functionalities, within a larger environment. The OCM illustrates the areas of concern for designing, implementing, maintaining, promoting and evaluating an online communication ap- plication. As presented in this Page, OCM is based on four main pillars:
- contents and services
- technical instruments and user interface
- people in charge of building, managing and promoting the website and interact with users
- people who access the website and use it The competition arena around it represents the website’s environment: the context/world, with information competitors and other players. OCM allows stakeholders to share a clear idea of what they should create and suggests which are the main points that have to be discussed during the workshop. In this framework of understanding, the methodology here proposed involves every aspects of the Online Communication Model. For further information on OCM, please refer to Cantoni L., Tardini S. (2006). Internet. Routledge, London (UK) – New York (NY).
onLine CommUniCA-
tion moDeL
Contents AnD serviCes
teChniCAL instrUments AnD User interFACe
PeoPLe who ProDUCe, UPDAte, Promote, etC.
PeoPLe who ACCess the Context/worLD,^ AnD^ Use the reLevAnt inFo-mArKet
URL: User Requirements with Lego is an application of Lego Serious Play (LSP). URL supports the definition of strategies in online communication, by helping in the elicitation of user requirements for web applications. In particular, URL helps in finding communicative requirements that usually do not emerge with other methodologies. For this reason, URL has to be intended as an additional methodology, used besides formal and structured strategies (such as interviews, focus groups, etc.) to find and define user requirements. URL helps also in team building, yielding in few hours to share a com- mon understanding of the online communication project.
When thinking of strategies in online communication, e.g. when buil- ding a new company website or redesigning an existing one, stakehol- ders are often professionals coming from several company units: exe- cutives, management, communication, corporate identity, marketing, sales, IT,… They should work in concert and agree on a common vi- sion, strategy, and operative direction. Collaboration, discovery and ne- gotiation of ideas at the early stage of design is known as requirements elicitation and analysis. At this stage, stakeholders should start develo- ping and sharing basic design concepts, envisioning their application’s users, contents and goals. In this context, capturing, understanding and expressing communi- cative requirements for the design of web applications can be really a daunting task. URL is a method for eliciting the requirements and strategic design issues of web applications based on the use of Lego bricks. In URL, the playfulness approach supports the elicitation of non-analytical requi- rements. URL follows the approach of Lego Serious Play, proposing a
whAt is UrL
URL User Requirements with Lego
UrL – User requirements with Lego… … is an application of Lego Serious Play (LSP) … supports the definition of strategies in online communication … helps in finding (hidden) communicative requirements … has to be intended as an additional methodology …helps in team building
Use UrL when … you need to define online communication strategies for your (internal or external) client … you want a playful method for the elicitation of (hidden) user requirements … you want to design communication by communicating
URL User Requirements with Lego
structured sequence of timed individual and collaborative activities, led by a facilitator. URL is an innovative and holistic method, which generates a shared and agreed-upon view of the target web application, which can be quic- kly transformed into an initial design and can speed up the project.
ADvAntAges oF UrL
The use of URL offers several advantages when designing online com- munication. URL is a powerful methodology that points out percep- tions and ideas of every stakeholder. You may miss a lot of important issues that remain hidden when using only traditional methodologies for user requirements elicitation. URL is precise: it helps prioritize ne- eds and requirements. Participants are requested to build up a single Lego model, to represent “an important” or “the most important” con- tent/service/intended audience. They cannot just list many items, as it happens quite often during interviews and focus groups. People under- stand that the more focused is the communication, the more effective and efficient it is. In this process, they are naturally driven to align
16 URL User Requirements with Lego
tion of stakeholders in building and sharing meaning through playful artifacts. The playful experience of URL pushes people into a creative and constructive mood. Stakeholders feel less constrained, and dare exploring wider scenarios.
URL boosts communication and team work Thanks to its playful aspect, URL helps mitigate power-related bia- ses. Following the structure of activities, participants can freely express themselves (“everybody has a voice”): there is no risk of just copying or approving boss’ ideas. This is a particularly relevant advantage, if com- pared with focus groups. By facilitating dialogue and constructive communication, URL enables to generate shared and agreed-upon requirements, helps to make silent assumptions explicit and promotes a sort of double mirroring: stakehol- ders mirror their own ideas into a single Lego model, and at the same time, they can see how their viewpoints are reflected in the models produced by their colleagues. While fostering buy-in to the company online communication websi- te project, URL promotes a common shared understanding of online communication among key stakeholders, and helps fully integrating online communication within company’s strategies and everyday ma- nagement.
Three limits are clearly seen in URL.
Costs An URL session requires a face-to-face workshop of 3 to 4 hours, whe- re all key stakeholders interact together. Setting such a workshop can be difficult and it requires a significant effort on behalf of the client company or organization. However, results of an URL workshop are reached with other methodologies with more costs and efforts in term of money, time and other resources.
Completeness of user requirements URL provides sound user requirements, but it does not provide a com- plete map of them. Saliency is favored over exhaustiveness. Therefore, it is useful to complement URL with other user requirements techniques, as it cannot be used as the only method to gather requirements in a complex project.
Willingness to dare URL requires on the company side willingness to play and to be chal- lenged in a new and unconventional way – a condition that sometimes can be hardly met. Good results are achieved by people and companies ready to take risks and experiment new practices.
URL User Requirements with Lego
Limits oF UrL
- researchers who contributed to develop the methodology: Davide Bolchini, Luca Botturi, Chiara Bramani, Leonora Giovanazzi, Elena Marchiori, Emanuele Rapetti
- collaborators and students: Barbara Biffi, Barbara Guggiari
- all the people involved in several workshops
The work with Lego bricks yielded to two scientific publications: Cantoni L., Marchiori E., Faré M., Botturi L., Bolchini D. (2009). A sy- stematic methodology to use Lego bricks in web communication design. In Proceedings of the 27th ACM international Conference on Design of Communication (Bloomington, Indiana, USA, October 05 - 07, 2009). SIGDOC ‘09. ACM, New York, NY, pp. 187-192.
Cantoni L., Botturi L., Faré M., Bolchini D. (2009). Playful Holistic Support to HCI Requirements using Lego Bricks. In M. Kurosu (ed.), Human Centered Design, HCII 2009, LNCS 5619, Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg, pp. 844-853.
URL User Requirements with Lego